Sunday morning arrived, winds blowing outside and inside there was a storm gearing up for The Karmic Storm first perfomance at Gignition night.
Gary gave me a sleep-in as Zeth decided to do his normal thing by waking very early (I guess he thinks that the world starts at 6am, despite the many times we tell him it doesn`t). I slept until about 8am and then we soon got Damaris, Zyah and bub ready (after toilet, teeth-brushing and breakfast) for their day with Mum and Dad (until 3pm) and afternoon/evening with Uncle Rick and Aunty Kerry.
Once the children went for their special outing Gary got snuggled up (not in his snuggie!) on the sofa and had a sleep for a couple of hours (Saturday night was another late night going to bed and also Zeth decided to be up a couple of times throughout so we didn`t get a hell of alot of rested sleep).
Gary had told me (very sternly) to have a sleep too but I pottered about shining my silver, having a shower, washing my hair, drying it, plaiting it and then double-checking what was packed ready to be put in the car for the big night.
My control (or not) of the nerves is to potter about, thinking (hmmmm, maybe not as that never stops!) and going over what I need to get ready and going off into my own world in the hours leading up to a gig… I can get very quiet in myself for a while but then whilst on the way to the gig I can get very chatty indeed. Garys` ears can be half chewed off by the time I am finished. 
Doing the right thing and being professional, Nick, Merv (and Kath), Bruce (and Jill), Gary and I all arrived by 4pm, this was the time stated on the worksheet we got from Gignition, but the doors weren`t open and we couldn`t get in to unload all of the gear until about 4:40pm. Gary and I left the guys and made use of the time by handing out some of The Karmic Storm tickets we had made up for the gig in the heart of Fremantle. Even if people couldn`t make it to the gig we wanted to make them aware of The Karmic Storm and the free downloads on the website.
Waiting is the worst thing about doing a gig or recording even. When you feel “ready” you feel… ready. Merv and I shared these same thoughts last night, as you may know we were scheduled for 8:10pm so it was a damn long wait.
Mandyleigh often works/ticks by timing so I calculated when I needed to leave where the action was (whilst the 3rd band had started their set, on for 40 minutes), head off into the van, being blown to bits in the process as we clutched at the door and struggled to get inside of the van (Gary sat in the passenger seat at the front of the Delica to make sure I was safe getting ready into my outfit as my face was already put on an hour or so before that) with Gary commenting and looking off into the distance, “It`s very stormy over there…” I said, “There`s already a storm right here”. Gary giggled.
It`s not easy being a woman at the best of times let alone trying to get changed in a vehicle, it can be an extremely challenging feat, but I got there needing much of that 40 minutes. Struggling, crunching, slooping, and scrambling down, into my clothes…
Gary and I got pushed out of the van (from the rather strong wind), down the alley way and into the basement of The Swan Hotel, joining the guys and my Mum, Dad, Aaron (my nephew) and our friend, Iris. It was all kisses and hugs, as usual. I was then approached by Mark (and his sweet other half) who had bought my album in Replay Records some months ago… Mark and I had met in the local shopping centre.
Looking over I spotted Jeanette (Nicks wife), his daughter and son too. It was a nice family affair we had going on between all of us.
After visiting the loo (as you do, and being met in there by my Mum who made sure I was looking my best by helping to preen me), The Karmic Storm were soon up getting all of the neccessaries onto the stage.
Entering another world at this point
Winters Day was first up (we didn`t get a sound check so the first couple of songs will always turn out to be guinea pigs, not just for the sound man but for us too), followed by Alive. After the gig Mum had told me that Laura, (a friend of the family) had tears in her eyes with Alive. Awww, bless her.
We went onto Go with it and the vibe was already grooving strong between the Karmics… I just love dwelling in the world created when we make music together… Nick, Merv and Bruce are da bomb!
Nick, myself and Merv (just in the shot). Where`s Bruce? He is "the Anonymous one" way over to the right...
We toned down for a couple of acoustics, Let It Go and Sunny New Day… revving up into Deep Sea Green, Devil Walking (Nick and I wrote this one together which has been moulded into a cool song by all of us, we love playing this one and I get out some pent up aggression too… 
).
Keep The Silence was just as full on and glass-breaking as it always has been, and the topper to end the night was Cry Hard (as you know my favourite).
Nick, Merv and Bruce are cool guys, wonderful musicians and a pleasure to play with. It took a long hard struggle finding these gems and I can say that the chains are firmly intact. These guys aren`t getting past me (I`m a fast runner), my boys did The Karmic Storm proud last night and I can`t wait to get out there again and again, and again. The energy, groove and grace was simply… Karmic baby!
Thank-you guys, love you all, thank-you to all the family (including those wonderful roadies) of The Karmics and good friends.
Take care and be bad all of you! XXX
PS Hopefully soon you can find more pictures and some upload of video once we have finished grabbing it all and having a ganders ourselves.
written by Mandyleigh
